Multiple aviation groups have asked the U.S. government not to allow more flights between the United States and China until steps are taken to protect U.S. airlines and workers from Chinese carriers’ anticompetitive practices.
After the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese regime “unilaterally suspended the bilateral air services agreement with the U.S. and effectively closed the market to U.S. carriers,” an April 11 letter from the aviation associations reads. The regime also implemented strict limits on market access, imposing “challenging rules” that ended up affecting airline operations, customer service, and how the airline crew were treated. “These actions demonstrated the clear need for the U.S. government to establish a policy that protects U.S. aviation workers, industry, and air travelers.”
More than 150 weekly round-trip passenger flights were allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but until August 2023, Chinese and U.S. carriers could each fly only 12 round trips a week between the two countries.
The number rose on Sept. 1, 2023, to 18 round trips weekly, and then to 24 per week starting on Oct. 29, 2023. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) approved 35 round trips weekly for Chinese carriers in November 2023.
In February, the DOT said that Chinese passenger airlines could boost weekly round-trip U.S. flights to 50 from 35 starting on March 31, bringing flights to about a third of pre-pandemic levels. U.S. carriers also were authorized to fly 50 flights per week but are currently not using all of those flights.
Airlines are worried that the Biden administration could boost or even double to 100 the number of weekly flights permitted by Chinese carriers.
The letter pointed out that Chinese airlines enjoy certain protections because of their relationship with the Chinese regime, which allows them to “operate irrespective of standard market conditions.”
China also benefits from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the letter states. In the aftermath of the invasion, U.S. carriers stopped flying through Russian airspace, but Chinese airlines have continued to access it.
Avoiding Russian airspace adds extra time and costs to a flight, something that U.S. airlines have to bear. This puts U.S. carriers at a disadvantageous position against Chinese airlines, which use shorter routes via Russian airspace.
Such a competitive disadvantage against China is harmful to the roughly 315,000 individuals employed by U.S. airlines that service the Asian nation, according to the letter. If the Chinese aviation market grows unchecked without concern for equality of access for all airlines, flights will continue going to Chinese carriers at the expense of U.S. businesses and workers, the groups warns.
“On behalf of the U.S. aviation industry, we are writing to urge you [to] pause additional passenger flights between the United States and the People’s Republic of China until U.S. workers and businesses are guaranteed equality of access in the marketplace, free from the existing harmful anti-competitive policies of the Chinese government,” the letter reads.
Addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the letter was signed by representatives of Airlines for America, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Allied Pilots Association, and the Association of Flight Attendants.
Chinese Response, Lawmaker Concerns
During a news conference on April 12, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning was asked about the letter.“I’d refer you to competent authorities on the specific question. More broadly, to increase direct flights between China and the U.S. was something agreed between the two presidents in San Francisco,” she said, referring to their meeting in November 2023.
Boosting flights among the two nations “will help promote exchanges and mutual understanding between the two peoples,” Ms. Mao said.
On April 11, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) sent a letter to Mr. Blinken and Mr. Buttigieg raising similar concerns as the letter sent by the aviation groups.
The lawmakers’ letter asked Biden administration officials to exercise “caution” when approving new flights between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
“PRC carriers are continuing to operate air routes at an anti-competitive commercial advantage that must not be allowed to increase without reciprocal parity in the number of U.S. carrier operated routes to the PRC. Any additional routes to the PRC should be slowly phased in, based on passenger demand,” they wrote.
“Additionally, American passengers must not be exposed to unnecessary security risks by traversing Russian airspace. The expansion of routes must ensure a prohibition on the use of Russian airspace by PRC airlines.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department continues to maintain a Level 3 travel advisory to mainland China, asking Americans to reconsider traveling to the country.
The department warned about the “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” in China, “including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions.”
“U.S. citizens traveling or residing in the PRC may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime. U.S. citizens in the PRC may be subjected to interrogations and detention without fair and transparent treatment under the law,” the warning states.
